02-20-2024 Entry

Travel day to Death Valley.  The weather was overcast, foggy, and alternately misting and raining pretty much all the way up to the Cajon Pass.  It was exhausting to drive and keep focus on this stretch.  We ran into some traffic at the interchange between the 215 and the 60, and Google Maps rerouted us through Riverside to get to the 91.  It was longer and had more traffic lights, but there weren't any significant stoppages this way, and on the 91 it was free-going back to the 215.  We stopped for gas in Adelanto, then I kept driving until it was a little less than 4 hours, before turning it over to Ann to finish it off.  The drive was through generally featureless terrain, except for going up the pass to lead into Death Valley.  It was a long, gradual descent into Death Valley, entering the park near Stovepipe Wells.  The valley drive was desolate, although the surrounding mountains were (and are) beautiful.  We had a 10-minute traffic stop due to road cleaning and repairs, then we got to Furnace Creek Campground a little before 2:30.  Set up camp fairly efficiently, but I wasn't in the mood to drive further (I don't think Ann was either).  We did walk over to the Visitor Center and look around, including the nature and history displays.  Somewhat interesting, especially the historical sections.  For dinner, we made Impossible burgers, and I made the mistake of eating two full burgers, which gave me a stomach ache.  So it was hard to move around in the evening while getting ready to go to sleep.  We made a fire, and it actually caught and was nice for a while, but I still turned in early.  I was feeling down, couldn't shake the malaise.  On a trip in the evening to put things in the car, I turned my left ankle and, for a time, thought I had really screwed it up.  It was funny because I had just been thinking about what would happen if I turned my ankle.  It turned out not to be a big deal, it hurt to walk on that night and was sore while I was trying to get in a comfortable sleeping position.  But it could have been much worse.